Council’s new management structure shaping

Harrow council has made first appointment under its redone senior management structure.Tom McCourt, Hackney Council’s assistant director of public realm, has been appointed corporate director community. The directorate has responsibility for commissioning services, housing as well as environment, community and culture.
Mr McCourt has progressed from a traffic engineer to head of traffic and transportation, to the assistant director planning and transportation, and to his present post in Hackney for the past nine years.Commenting on this first senior appointment under the new management structure, the council chief executive Michael Lockwood (photo) said, “We are in the middle of a really positive transformation in Harrow and the skills Tom brings will be a great addition to the senior management team to help improve the vital front line services”.
Mr McCourt appears to have far more experience in public realm. Public realm is any publicly owned streets, pathways, right of ways, parks, publicly accessible open spaces and any public and civic building and facilities.
Although Mr McCourt has worked in a borough like Tower Hamlets which faced active racism for years and now he works in Hackney, his housing and community work profile appears to be less obvious. This is interesting considering the demanding housing situation and diverse population in Harrow which require high level of community orientation and engagement, especially at the time of financial instability like community and culture are forecasting a projected overspend of £284k against a total net budget of £5.084m, and the housing is facing £2.002m pressure.Some of the Harrow characteristics: non-White 69.1%; 5-17 age group 16.21%; 25-59 age group 49.6%; non-White pupils in schools 81.5%